USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Hartford > History of the diocese of Hartford > Part 2
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DIOCESE OF HARTFORD.
three. In 1870 there were sixty-three; in 1880, one hundred and twenty- three; in 1890, one hundred and eighty-six. In this year of our Lord, 1899, two hundred and sixty priests minister to the wants of the Catholics of Connecticut.
In 1843, before the erection of the diocese, the priests of Connecticut were stationed as follows :
Hartford, Trinity Church. Rev. John Brady, Rev. John D. Brady, who attended also Cabbotsville.
New Haven, Christ's Church. Rev. James Smyth.
Bridgeport was attended from New Haven.
New London was served from Worcester by Rev. James Fitton.
1844.
Hartford, Trinity Church. Rev. John. Brady.
New Haven, Christ's Church. Rev. James Smyth.
Bridgeport, St. James. Rev. Michael Lynch.
Middletown was served from Hartford.
New London and Norwich were attended from Worcester by Rev. A. Williamson.
1845.
Hartford, Trinity Church. Rev. John Brady.
New Haven, Christ's Church. Rev. James Smyth.
Bridgeport, St. James. Rev. Michael Lynch.
Middletown served from Hartford.
New London and Norwich attended from Newport by Rev. James Fitton. Norfolk served from Bridgeport.
After the death of Bishop Tyler, in January, 1849, the diocese was gov- erned by Right Rev. John B. Fitzpatrick, D. D., Bishop of Boston, until the appointment of Bishop O'Reilly, in August, 1850. The priests residing in Connecticut in 1850 were :
Hartford, Trinity Church. Rev. John Brady, Rev. James Smyth, Rev. Luke Daly, who attended several stations.
New Haven. Rev. Philip O' Reilly.
Bridgeport, St. James. Rev. Michael Lynch.
Middletown. Rev. John Brady, Jr.
Waterbury. Rev. Michael O'Neill.
Norwalk. Rev. John C. Brady, who attended also Stamford, Danbury, New Milford and Canaan.
New London, Norwich and several adjoining stations were attended from Worcester, Mass., by the Rev. William Logan, S. J.
Cultured and refined, with an exalted idea of their mission, profoundly interested in whatever inakcs for the advancement of their peoples' welfare, the clergy of the diocese of Hartford are accomplishing splendid work for God, the church, and society. Faithful to duty, prompt in responding to every demand, insistent in their efforts to promote the educational interests
6
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND.
of the children committed to their care, charitable to the needy, tender and compassionate to the sick, the strength and consolation of the dying ; the teachers of youth, the friends and guides of age; successful in composing difficulties, the arbiters between men estranged; aggressive in their warfare against the drink habit, that giant evil that stalks insolently over the land, bringing ruin and desolation in its wake, the priests of Connecticut have at- tained a position of influence in the commonwealth that redounds to the glory of the diocese. Loved by their own charges and respected by their separated brethren, they are a mighty power for the accomplishment of high and noble purposes, a stanch barrier to the progress of evil. Thoroughly imbued with the spirit that pervades our beneficent laws, familiar with the glorious history of this republic, realizing in its full measure the blessings that flow from the religious freedom here enjoyed, it were superfluous-a work of supererogation-to proclaim here their loyalty to the institutions of our country. Happy and prosperous, indeed, will this republic be, if in her course down through the coming years, it will be assailed by no greater foes than the priests of the Catholic Church. The shafts of hate and jealousy may be directed against them; the poisoned darts will fall harmless at their feet. Their ears inay be assailed by shouts that come up from hearts eaten with bigotry, but, conscious of the purity of their motives and of the recti- tude of their conduct, they will remain faithful to conscientious duty assured of the continued good-will of their fellow-citizens. "By their fruits ye shall know them." Judged by this divine standard, the priests of Connecticut and their brethren elsewhere in this favored land of ours, need not fear the hostile criticism of those whose words are not always weighed in the scales of justice.
The first order of religious women, the Sisters of Mercy, was introduced into the diocese of Hartford in 1852, by Right Rev. Bishop O'Reilly. The mother-house was located at Providence, R. I. On May 12 of that year four sisters arrived at New Haven. They were the pioneers in Connecticut of that splendid order which was destined to achieve inany and wonderful works in the cause of religion and education. They came among strangers, but their devotion to their sacred calling, their self-sacrifice, their unobtrusive piety and gentleness, their love for children and devotedness to tlie sick mellowed the hearts of persons of every creed. They opened schools where children could receive a Catholic training, and' gathered the helpless orphans within their protecting arms and shielded thein from the misery and hard- ships of the world. From four sisters in 1852, they increased to twenty-two in 1860; and in the present year, 1899, the number of religious women, in_ cluding novices and postulants, in the diocese, is seven hundred and fifty. God has singularly blessed tliese holy women, who have made, and are still making, so many and great sacrifices for Him, whose very names are un- known to the world, who go uncomplaining to any service, and who are as patient, zealous and resigned in the midst of contagion as in the class room. For many years the spiritual daughters of Mother McAuley were alone in the field; but in the progress of the years other orders were introduced, until now
7
DIOCESE OF HARTFORD.
there are three mother-houses of the Sisters of Mercy, besides ten other dif- ferent communities in the diocese. They are: Sisters of Mercy, Mother- house, Hartford ; Sisters of Mercy, Mother-house, Meriden ; Sisters of Mercy, Mother-house, Middletown; Sisters of the Assumption, (Nicolet, P. Q.); Sisters of Charity, (Convent Station, N. J.); Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, (Mt. St. Vincent on the Hudson, N. Y.); Sisters of St. Joseph, (Chambery, France); Sisters of Charity of our Lady, Mother of Mercy, (Tilburg, Hol- land); Sisters of St. Francis; Sisters of St. Joseph, (Flushing, New York); Sisters of the Congregation de Notre Dame, (Villa Maria, P. Q.); Sisters of the Holy Cross, (St. Laurent, P. Q.); Sisters of Notre Dame, (Baltimore, Md.)
These devoted women instruct our youth in parochial schools; tenderly care for God's cherished little ones, the orphans; nurse the sick and provide for the comfort of the aged. They are ministering angels, and their presence exhales a benediction. They are noble, efficient auxiliaries to the priesthood and their fervent prayers ascending to the mercy seat from the silence and soli- tude of their sanctuaries bring down many and choice blessings upon the dio- cese. Twenty-three thousand of our youth are being trained under their foster- ing care. Who will measure the extent of the good accomplished by these holy women among this number of children-almost as large as the standing ariny of the United States before the Spanish-American war? Entering the various walks of life they will bring to their chosen vocations both virtue and talent. Religion will be an ever-present factor in their lives, and earthly ambitions, how strong soever they may press, will become subordinate to a higher destiny, that for which man was alone created. As the maternal influence is para- mount in moulding the character of children, so are the example and pre- cepts of our Sisters of inestimable value in shaping for good the careers of our youth. They seek no worldly encomiums; they are indifferent to the plaudits of men. Content are they to labor, hidden in Christ, from whom alone they seek reward.
The laity of the diocese of Hartford have ever been conspicuous for their loyalty to holy church, for cheerful submission to diocesan laws and for respect for parish regulations. Cooperating generously with their local clergy by suggestion, advice and financial assistance, they justly participate in the glory that belongs to the diocese. It is true, that from certain sections of the diocese discordant voices have been heard from time to time, but in every instance these miniature rebellions have received the unqualified condemnna- tion of the vast majority of the laity. Angry passion may supplant reason and obedience ; the law of obedience may be disregarded and authority set at defiance; but those who thus give rein to personal feelings find little sym- pathy among their brethren and are subject to an ostracism that speaks its disapproval more forcibly than could word of mnoutlı.
Seventy years ago the first Catholic parish of Connecticut was organized. It embraced the entire State. Its members were the proverbial "handful," but strong in faith, robust of physique, self-reliant and confident that the future held much in reserve. They came to stay, to cast their lot with their fellows of other lands, and to assist, as far as they could, in laying deep and
-
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THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND.
strong the foundations of what is now a prosperous Commonwealth. The Catholics of Connecticut have ever manifested deep interest in whatever con- cerns her welfare. Zealous in guarding her fair name and in upholding her prestige, they join willing hands with their Protestant fellow-citizens in labor- ing for the common weal. The interests of the one are the interests of the other. Catholic citizens should not, and do not, forin a separate class. Knowing their duties, and grateful for the blessings they enjoy, they have become closely identified with whatever tends to the advancement of the State's interests. In all good work they emulate their non-Catholic neighbors, who applaud their zeal and 'extend not sympathy merely, but generous, practical assistance. United in effort, charitable in spirit, one towards the other, scrupulously respecting each other's rights, privileges and opinions, the Catholics and Protestants of Connecticut will constitute an invincible power and are likely to achieve still greater results in the moral, intellectual and commercial spheres than have yet been wrought among us.
Our nation is justly proud of its composite character, and of the fact that its formative elements have been drawn from such branches of tlie human family as were most essential to its rapid and lasting development. The different arrivals of the constructive elements were generally con- temporaneous with our most pressing needs. This is especially true in regard to the Irish immigra- tion. The nation's development demanded hewers of wood and drawers of water; inen of brawn as QUII SUSTINE well as men of brain. These were the factors es- sential in our population in the early and iniddle TRANSTVLIT periods of our history, and poor Ireland, that pro- Seal of the State of Conn. lific "Niobe of nations," longing for freedom and emancipation, sent us thousands of her sturdy sons and pure daughters to aid in building up and developing this new and rugged land. Of this beneficial accretion Connecticut received a goodly share.
The spread of Catholicity in Connecticut has kept pace with its phenoni- enal growth throughout the country at large. Numbering nearly one-third of the entire population of the State, this fact serves to emphasize the strong words of Cardinal Manning written in 1888 : "The progress, the growth, the expansion of the church in the United States within the last century is, as far as I know, without a parallel in the history of the church upon earth." This wonderful expansion is forcibly illustrated by Right Rev. J. L. Spalding, D.D., bishop of Peoria.1 "The thirteen American colonies," says the bishop, "which a hundred years ago declared their independence. of the power by which they had been founded, were intensely and thor- oughly Protestant. At the breaking out of the War of Independence there were not more than twenty-five thousand Catholics in a population of three
1 The Religious Mission of the Irish Race, 1880.
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DIOCESE OF HARTFORD.
millions.1 They had no bishops, they had no schools, they had no religious houses, and the few priests who were scattered among them generally lived upon their own lands, or with their kinsfolk, cowed by the fearful force of Protestant prejudice. .. . An observer who a hundred years ago should have considered the religious condition of this country, could have discovered no sign whatever that might have led him to suppose that the faith of this little body of Catholics was to have a future in the American Republic; whereas there are many reasons for thinking that no other religion is so sure of a future here as the Catholic." The bishop continues : "The Catholic church in the United States is no longer confined to three or four counties of a single State. It is co-extensive with the country, embracing North and South, East and West. Its members are counted by inillions, its priests and sacred edifices by thousands. The arch-bishops and bishops rule over eleven metropolitan and fifty-four suffragan Sees.2 The religious homes for men and women, its col- leges, academies and schools are found in every part of the Union. It has acquired the right of domicile; it has become a part of the nation's life. It is a great and public fact, which men cannot, if they would, ignore."
The following summary exhibits the present status of the diocese : 3
Bishop .
I Students in St. Sulpice, Paris . 6
Secular priests 238
Eichstädt 3
Priests of religious orders 22
Ecclesiastical students 50
Total
260
I Colleges and academies for boys. Students . 40
Churches without resident
Academies for young ladies
8
priests 50
Pupils 660
Total
169 Parishes with parochial schools . 53
Stations
I7
Pupils . 23,000
Chapels
56 Orphan asylums
2
Orphans 327
Religious women, including novices and postulants
750 Total number of young people under Catholic care, about 1 25,000
Preparatory seminary
Hospital
I
Seminaries of religious orders .
I
Patients
314
Students .
75
Home for the aged poor .
I
Students in Rome Louvain
5 Inmates during the year 88
3 Catholic population, about · 250,000
1 In 1785 the number of Catholics in the United States was approximated as follows : In New England, about -600 ; in New York and New Jersey, about 1700 ; in Pennsylvania and Delaware, about 7700; in Maryland (free), 12,000, (slaves), So00 ; States of the South, 2500 ; in Illinois, at Kaskasia and the French establisliments on the Mississippi, 12,000. Total, 44,500. Letter to Vergennes, Minister of Foreign Affairs to Louis XVI.
2 There are now fourteen metropolitans and seventy-three suffragans, including a Prefecture Apostolic in Alaska, in the province of Oregon.
3 From Catholic Directory, Hoffman, 1899.
Students .
40
Churches with resident priest . 119
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THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND.
INTOLERANCE IN CONNECTICUT.
CHAPTER II.
BLUE LAWS AND "POPERY."
HAT the Puritans of New England were severe in their treatment of those who differed from thein, will not be denied even by their stanchest apologists. Severity was a conspicuous trait in the Puri- tan character. They enforced obedience to their laws with a rigor that has no parallel, and their enactments militated against the prerogative of personal liberty. In fact, personal liberty was a boon but little known under the harsh system of Puritan legislation. While inany of the "Blue Laws" of Connecticut are pure fiction, it cannot be denied that the spirit they were intended to exhibit actually prevailed, and caused much needless hardship and suffering. A few instances drawn from our town records will illustrate the character of the laws in vogue, and the illiberal spirit prevalent in Con- necticut in colonial days.
In the last quarter of the seventeenth century, a New London fisherman, was fined for catching eels on Sunday, while another offender was mulcted "twenty shillings for sailing a boat on the Lord's day." In 1670, two young Puritans, a youth and maiden, John Lewis and Sarah Chapman, were fined for "sitting together on the Lord's day, under an apple tree in Goodinan Chapman's orchard." At New Haven Captain Dennison paid a fine of fifteen shillings for absenting himself from worship on Sunday, and William Blag- den, also a resident of New Haven in 1647, was "publically whipped " and declared guilty of "sloathfulness" for the same offense. Another unfortunate inhabitant of New Haven was whipped and fined because he had the effrontery to say that the sermons of the minister were unproductive of spiritual frait. For audaciously declaring, "I would rather hear my dog bark than Mr. Bel- lamy preach," an irreverent resident of Windham was brought to trial and formally censured for his unchristian remark. When threatened with the direful punishment of being "shaken off" and "given up," he made a recantation with inuch compunction of heart, promised to "keep a guard over his tongue" for the future, and to attend regularly to Mr. Bellainy's sermons. But the New Haven offences, which appear to have been numerous, reached their climax when Madain Brewster, in 1646, proclaimed that the custom of bringing the collections to the deacon's table was decidedly "popislı "-it was "like going to the high altar " and "savoured of the Mass." For this grave offence the outspoken woman was tried, and we may well believe she received condign punishment. But this illiberal spirit did not expire with the seventeenth century, nor even with the eighteenth century. In the year of our Lord 1831, a young woman was arrested at Lebanon for traveling on
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DIOCESE OF HARTFORD.
Sunday to her father's home. Litigation, bitter and long, followed this high- handed action, and the victim justly received damages for false imprisonment.1
These instances will suffice to show the narrow and illiberal spirit that pervaded the lives and permeated the legislation of our Puritan forefathers.
But, if they were severe in their domestic legislation and rigorous in the enforcement of local enactments, they displayed indefensible severity towards those who held religious opinions different from their own. In this respect their intolerance stands out in marked contrast to the very first enactment of Thomas Dongan, the Catholic colonial Governor of New York :
"No person or persons who profess faith in God by Jesus Christ shall at any time be in any way molested, punished or disquieted; but that all and every such person or persons inay from time to time, and at all times, freely have and fully enjoy his or their judgments or consciences in matters of reli- gion throughout this province."2
This liberality was not appreciated, for when the law-making power fell under other control a number of odious, proscriptive laws were enacted against the religion professed by Governor Dongan. Ingratitude supplemented justice.
As in New York at this period, so throughout New England ; both state and church conspired to crush freedom of worship. This union was detri- inental to the highest interests of both, and was destined not to endure. It was a condition of things which we to-day utterly repudiate. "State and church were both victims of the unnatural alliance; and what was · begun with purest aims and invoked in prayer heaven's benediction, bore bitter fruits of intolerance and religious declension." 3
Apologists for the Puritans in their endeavor to lessen the force of the charge of intolerance, diligently claim for them the merit of sincerity. But some of the most misguided and unsuccessful characters of history have entered the same plea. While we may grant their claim without prejudice
1 Apropos of this arrest the Press, September 10, 1831, contained the following :
"THE GREAT OUTRAGE IN CONNECTICUT.
"The wife of Dr. T. C. Foster, of New York, was arrested in Connecticut by a certain Deacon Eliphalet Hutchinson for breaking the Lord's Day by traveling to see her father, Dr. Sweet, who resides in the 'Land of Steady Habits.' She was nearly in sight of lier father's house, and was basely arrested in violation of the Constitution of the U. S., and hield in durance vile till after sundown, and then permitted to depart in consideration that she would pay a fine. We hope Dr. Foster will bring the case before the Supreme Court of the U. S., and have this Sunday question settled."
Before beginning his theological studies in 1827, the late Cardinal McCloskey, Arch- bishop of New York, was riding horse-back one Sunday morning, during a period of con- valescence, and having crossed into Connecticut was met by a constable, and asked why he was riding on the Sabbath. As he was not riding either to or fromn church he was obliged to recross into New York State .- Right Rev. Bishop Farley in Historical Records and Sketches. January, 1899.
2 Act of Gen. Assembly, Oct. 17.
3 Rev. E. H. Gillet, D.D., in Hist. Mag., July, 1868, p. I.
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THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND.
to historical accuracy, we know not how to palliate their harshness towards adherents of different creeds, nor can we disregard their incomprehensible inconsistency. "Victims of intolerance, they were themselves equally intol- erant when clothed with power. Their ideas of civil and religious freedom were narrow, and their practical interpretation of the golden rule was contrary to the intention of Him who uttered it. They regarded churchmen and Roman Catholics as their deadly enemies, to be kept at a distance." 1
The Puritans of Connecticut cannot escape the reproach of cultivating the spirit of persecution. Their enactments displayed but little of the sweet- ness and love that shone so conspicuously in the teachings of the Master for Whom they professed such profound attachment. Others who strove to follow the Divine Exemplar with as much devotion as they, were visited with their godly wrath and fined and imprisoned and banished. What Hutchin- son said of the Puritans in general is applicable to their brethren in Connect- icut : "In New England it must be confessed that bigotry and cruel zeal prevailed, and to that degree that no opinions but their own could be tol- erated. They were sincere, but mistaken in their principles." 2 Equally pertinent are the words of Sir Richard Saltonstall to Wilson and Cotton, two ministers of Boston : "It doth a little grieve iny spirit to hear what sad things are reported daily of your tyranny and persecution in New England, as that you fine, whip, and imprison men for conscience." 3
On September 1, 1743, Benjamin Pomeroy, minister, and pastor of the church at Hebron, made the public declaration that the laws of the colony concerning ecclesiastical affairs were a great foundation to encourage perse- cution and encourage wicked men to break their covenants. He also declared that " there is no colony so bad as Connecticut for persecuting laws. I never heard nor read of such persecuting laws as in Connecticut."4 For this exer- cise of the precious right of private judgment, Minister Pomeroy was con- demned to pay the costs of the prosecution, and to give bonds in fifty pounds to keep the peace.
And yet it was Bancroft who wrote : " There never existed a persecuting spirit in Connecticut." And again : "That heavenly man, John Haynes; would say to Roger Williams, 'I think, Mr. Williams, I must now confess to you that the inost wise God hath provided and cut out this part of the world as a refuge and receptacle for all sorts of consciences.' "' 5 The great historian has not drawn a faithful picture of the religious condition of the colonies under Puritan rule. It is a matter of historical record that "all sorts of con- sciences" were not tolerated. From across the ocean caine the voice of remon- strance against Connecticut intolerance. Dr. B. Avery; of England, a very influential Dissenter, wrote to a gentleman here: "I am very sorry to hear of
1 Lossing's Hist. of the U. S, pp. 118-119.
2 Hist. of Mass., vol. I., p 175.
" Lossing's Hist. of the U. S., p. 118.
+ Public Records of Conn., vol. IX., p. 28.
5 Hist. of the U. S., vol. II., p. 56, ed. 1841.
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DIOCESE OF HARTFORD.
the persecuting spirit that prevails in Connecticut. It is unaccountable that those who live and breathe by liberty should deny it to their brethren." 1
Letter from the Rev. Ebenezer Pemberton, pastor of the Presbyterian church, New York, to Rev. Dr. Doddridge, Northampton, England :
" NEW YORK, Dec. 16, 1743.
" The imprisonment you mention in your letter was in the government of Connect- icut, a colony bordering on New York, and was of the most favorable kind : two of their preachers (Moravians) being only confined in the officer's house, till inquiry was made into their circumstances ; and upon giving security for their good behavior, they were in a day or two dismissed. This short confinement they underwent, I doubt not, was unjust, and it is melancholy for me to be obliged to say that the government of Connect- icut is daily going much greater lengths than these in persecuting, not the Moravians, but the most zealous ministers in their communion, for preaching without the bounds of their respective parishes. By a late law they have enacted that every minister who does not belong to their government who shall presume to preach in any of their towns with- out the consent of the minister of the parish and a vote of the major part of the society, shall be transported from constable to constable to the place whence he came ; and if any minister that belongs to this government transgress in the same manner, he for- feits all his salary. This is certainly going on with a high hand, and I am greatly afraid will lay a foundation for the loss of their civil privileges, which are by far the most val- uable of any of the American plantations."
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